Michelle Somers is an award-winning author of sensual romantic suspense. She’s a professional killer and matchmaker, a storyteller and a romantic. Words are her power and her passion. Her heroes and heroines always get their happy ever after, but she'll put them through one hell of a journey to get there.

Her debut novel Lethal in Love won both the Valerie Parv Award and Romance Writers of America’s Indiana Golden Opportunities Award before publication and was snapped up by Penguin Random House after a pitch at Sydney's 2014 RWA conference. It hit virtual bookstores in July 2015 as a serial ebook.

In 2016, Lethal in Love was re-released as a single ebook the same weekend it won RWA’s Romantic Book of the Year Award for long romance.

Michelle lives in Melbourne, Australia with her real life hero and three little heroes in the making.

What makes a great romance heroine? Backbone. I love a heroine who’s her own boss. A woman who isn’t afraid to stand up for what she wants or believes in.

A great example is Dee Byron from my short story, Love Through Time. Dee is a kickass character who’ll do anything to save the people she cares about. She’ll even travel through time, risk everything – giving up on love and her future happiness – to make a difference. Then there’s homicide detective Jayda Thomasz from my award-winning debut, Lethal in Love. Jayda is a homicide detective foremost and a woman last. Despite adversity, she battles through life with a take-no-prisoners daring I wish I had but even a hint of.

I believe the time for women to stand back and wait to be rescued is over. We’re more than capable of rescuing ourselves.

That’s why I always write my heroine’s with courage. With determination. With a heaped serving of mettle.

And, of course, backbone.

What made you want to be an author? You ask that question as if I had a choice. Lol!

I didn’t choose writing. Writing chose me.

But, what to write?

I’ve always had a fascination for psychology. For delving into what makes people tick. What better way to analyse the whys and wherefores of the human mind than to throw two of the most unlikely characters onto the pages together?

But don’t stop there. Oh, no.

Next, surround them with mayhem, with murder. Kill one or more of their inner circle. Then turn the world against them. Leave them with only each other to rely on. And in those moments, when they turn to each other for comfort, make them fall in love.

But give them reason to believe that any love, any relationship between them, is hopeless.Then sit back and see how they react.

And that doesn’t even take into account the killer’s point of view.

What makes a killer? What gives him the need – the craving – to kill?

All these questions, the possibilities and more, make fascinating research. Add to that the ability to make people fall in love every single day, and you have what makes being an author the best job in the world.

What is the secret life of a romance writer? What goes on between you and your keyboard (or quill) behind closed doors?Not so secret. And not so different from any of my counterparts.

I write, because I can’t imagine doing anything else. And in between those moments when my characters kidnap my thoughts, I’m a mother, a wife, a taxi driver, a cook, a cleaner, a counsellor and a teacher.

I run when I need to clear my mind, and drink coffee when I need an energy boost and I seldom go anywhere without my camera – especially when I’m out with my three beautiful boys.

When I’m not writing, I’m voracious reader. I love romance, the hot and spicy kind. And if it’s a little bit humorous, or a little terrifying, or a little of both, I love it even more.

When I’m not chauffeuring the kids to any of their numerous activities, I love family time and can spend an entire evening playing rummy tiles, cashflow or trivial pursuit (the kiddie’s version, because I can’t for the life of me answer the adult’s one).

If you have one piece of advice for aspiring authors, what would it be? Find your tribe.

It’s important to realise, as you sit at your computer and create, that although you write alone, you don’t have to be lonely.

The writing community is an amazing one. Welcoming. Supportive. Nurturing.

So, find like-minded writers, ones who inspire you, who make you feel good about yourself and your stories. Ones you can inspire and encourage in return. Form partnerships and encourage each other. And work together to make yourselves and your writing stronger.

I know that there are so many other pieces of advice that I could give, but without my ‘tribe’, I doubt I would have achieved as much as I have in the past six or so years. The beautiful women of Melbourne Romance Writers Guild are the backbone to my success. They are my inspiration and my cheering squad, as I hope I’ve been to them.

And we are all-the-more stronger for our solidarity and support.

Is there a genre you’d like to try writing but haven’t yet? Interesting you ask this question. I’ve never delved into time travel, but I’m a fervent lover of the old series Quantum Leap. I have the spark of an idea for a killer time travel series, but how to know whether I could even write the genre?

Give it a go.

And that’s exactly what I’ve done for my anthology short story this year. Love Through Timeis a time travel suspense which was both fun and a challenge to write. I hope after all I’ve put Dee and Colt through, I’ve done their story justice.

There are so many things to love about being a writer.For me, one in particular stands out. Analysing people. I love delving into the why’s and wherefore’s. Who are they? Where have they come from? Why do they do what they do? All in the name of research, of course. Legitimate people watching.There are even times I turn that analysis onto myself. Let’s take a look. I’m an introvert. Shy, insecure. Never quite sure what to say when I meet someone for the first time. I’m that person at a party who clings to the shadows, or people I know, fumbling over conversation because whatever I say just sounds plain dumb. Of course, I always think of those witty, intelligent comments after the party’s over. Too late then.Well, I’m a writer. I don’t have to be witty on demand.When my characters speak, it may seem as if they have all the answers, but I’ve had time to agonise over the words. Time to work out what they should or shouldn’t say, how they should act and react, what fits well within their nature. You may ask, why is she telling me this?Why, indeed?There is a reason, method behind what must seem to be my March Hare madness.As writers, it’s easy to write characters we relate to. Characters we understand, those gems whose minds and motivations we see inside. Characters like ourselves. But what if we write characters who aren’t like us? What then?Speak to ten different romance writers about their characters and you'll probably get ten different techniques for getting inside their head. There are so many ways for us to find out more about the leading men and women in our stories, And, just as important, give our readers insight into their varied characters. Today, I’m going to talk about just one of the techniques I use. One that can be a lot of fun, depending on how far you want to run with it. Let’s take the example of your heroine.If you emptied the contents of her pockets or handbag, what would you find? What goodies would she carry that give insight into who she is?I’ll go further and give you an example. Jayda Thomasz is the heroine of my current work in progress, Lethal in Love. She’s a homicide detective, so more often than not, she doesn’t carry a handbag. Let’s empty her pockets and see what we can discover.Of course, there’s the obvious – a .40 calibre Smith and Wesson M&P semi-automatic, a set of handcuffs and her detective’s badge. On top of that, she always carries tweezers, gloves and a couple of evidence bags. She is, after all, a workaholic. Just because she’s off the clock, doesn’t mean she’s done for the day.Let’s list the rest.

Mobile phone – with a home screen picture of her family taken the day she graduated from the police academy. What importance does this place on her family? On her career?

Gum – for those long nights working when she forgets to eat.

$5 – never know when you’ll need a coffee, which is pretty much anytime :)

Choc covered coffee beans – a caffeine alternative if she can’t get the real thing.

Notebook and pen – she loves lists. Every decision requires a list of pros and cons before she has a hope of making up her mind.

Lip balm and mirror – she may not be a girly girl, but she’s still a woman.

Garter belt – still in her pocket after a short stint undercover at a swinger’s party.

Binoculars, torch, army knife and paperclips – she was a girl scout, and she’s a stickler for their motto – ‘be prepared’.

Scrunchie – Jayda has shortish hair, so she has no need for this. Yet, she always has one in her pocket. Why? Because her sister consistently forgets to bring one to their weekly interval training workout.

Let’s take a moment to look at what she doesn’t carry in her pockets. For instance, no condom. Jayda doesn’t sleep around. And even more, she's a virgin. Remember, it’s not always about what’s there. Sometimes what’s missing gives us just as much insight into our character. If you found this fun, why not take the exercise one step further? Dress up as your character, in her taste of clothes (op shops are a great resource for this). Fill your pockets or handbag as only she would, and really slip into her skin to feel, think and act as only she would. Walk in your character’s shoes, so to speak, and then write them. You might be pleasantly surprised how much easier it is to slip inside their head, now you’ve seen inside their pockets!There are so many other ways of delving into our characters, and this is but one of them. What do you do to get into your characters? How do you get inside their minds and create realistic and 3-dimensional people for us to either love or hate?

Photo: Melbourne Romance Writers Guild get into character at the 2013 Retreat.